CONCERTINA WORLD

Magazine of the International Association since 1952 CW 476 December 2018 with separate December supplement

In this issue: Interviews with Cormac Begley

and

Vox Hunters

Information/interviews/techniques/ events/music supplement

Subscriptions run from 1 January each year Quantock Lodge Photographs by Martin Henshaw

Claire Wren’s Band

Colin Sleath’s English Workshop

Sally Barrett Ensemble workshop workshop

Steve Grayland’s Anglo workshop . Concertina World Editor: 1 Index Pauline de Snoo, tel. 0031 73 54 79837 2 Editorial Goudenregenstraat 5, 5482 CW Schijndel, Netherlands 4 Chairman Committee Email: [email protected] 5 Internet Video Jukebox 18 or [email protected] 7 Interview Vox Hunters Concertina World Correspondent: 15 cd review Paul Walker 16 West Country Concertina Players’ Email: [email protected] Weekend at Quantock Lodge Membership Secretary: 20 Grave Matters Martin Henshaw, tel. 01767 627 566 21 Interview Cormac Begley Oak End, 23A Bedford Road 30 Hawkwood Concertina Band Northill, Biggleswade, Beds, SG18 9AH Email: [email protected] 32 ICA AGM 2019 33 Obituary: Jean Margery Perree

Treasurer and Chairman Committee: 35 Subscription renewals Paul McCann Email: [email protected] Inside cover: photos Martin Henshaw

Librarian/Archivist: Jeremy Hague Email: [email protected]

Secretary: Roger Gawley Contributors: Jenny Cox, Bill Crossland, Email: [email protected] Pauline de Snoo, Roger Gawley, Martin Henshaw, Paul McCann, Paul Walker. Webmaster: Michel van der Meiren Email: [email protected] Music Supplement: Pauline de Snoo

Other committee members: December Supplement: Pauline de Snoo Graham Heffernann; Jon McNamara; Gill Noppen-Spacie, Tracy Tye, Colin Whyles.

Subscriptions run from 1 January to 31 December. Membership subscriptions are due on 1 January of each year. Membership UK 20 GBP, Europe 23 GBP, USA 26 GBP. For more information see website www.concertina.org, also Paypal payments for non UK members. The views expressed in “Concertina World” are solely those of the author and do not ICA bank details for subscribers: necessarily bear any relationship to the editor or A1 Account holder: International Concertina Association committee of the International Concertina Barclays Bank, Saffron Walden Business Association. Centre, Market Place, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 1HR No effort has been spared to trace the holders Sort code 20-74-05 of possible copyright in any of the items Account no. 10514489 contained here, and the publisher trusts that IBAN GB 13 BARC 2074 0510 5144 89 SWIFTBIC BARC GB22 any inadvertent infringement will be overlooked. They express their readiness, however to make any necessary corrections in subsequent editions.

CW is indexed and fully included in rilmAbstracts

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 1 Editorial

Dear Readers,

Another year has almost gone by and as always I hope you will enjoy the reading material offered to you. Maybe you can find some time to sit down and relax from preparing the festivities for the holidays and read among other things the interesting interviews that Bill Crossland and Paul Walker have provided. I have also taken the liberty to write a little personal memoir (see the supplement) while I am getting close to retiring as editor. We, the ICA, are still looking for someone who can take over the job of keeping the magazine going in whatever shape or form it may take in the future. The new editor does not necessarily have to do everything as I have done it. Every editor can put his or her own stamp on the publication. With the regular contributions coming in as they do now the life of the editor is not as difficult as it may look. Do contact me or anyone else on the committee if you are interested but uncertain as to whether you could do it.

I wish you all the best for 2019 and remember as always that all contributions are welcome.

Your editor

Pauline de Snoo

- NEXT DEADLINE 15 February 2019.

- Subscription renewals for 2019 see page 35.

- Vacancies (replacing present officers):

Editor Concertina World

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 2 A Message from the Chairman Paul McCann

I have been having a look at our membership data, with some interesting results! Certainly we are more “International” than we used to be: although 84% of the membership is UK-based, 17 other countries are now represented. We have 10% of our members in North America, compared with 5% in Europe. Of course this may reflect cultural and historical ties between North American, British and Irish music traditions. However, we have only 2 members in the Irish Republic, and both of these list “English” as their main system played. This means that the huge Irish concertina tradition is completely unrepresented in our membership today! How can we reach out to these players and make the ICA relevant to them?

According to our records, 69% of members are male, 31% female. I was a little bit surprised by this as I meet many female concertina players at concertina events and festivals, and so I expected a more even gender balance. Presumably many of these ladies are not yet ICA members! I wonder why there is this imbalance, and whether it’s representative of the wider concertina community.

Of those who identify a main system played, 67% play English, 24% Anglo and 9% Duet systems of various kinds. An impressive 35 or so play more than one system, and a very impressive 5 members list a third system! Not to mention other instruments, of course.

The range of musical interests represented in our membership is very diverse, though various folk traditions and “classical” or “band playing” are probably the most popular genres. Don’t forget that the ICA Library has the world’s largest collection of music written or arranged for concertina, and it is all available exclusively to members.

Turning to our ICA “vacancies”, we now have a volunteer to take over the audit role from John Wild. Rosemary Kavanagh (known to some of you through the West Country players) will take over from John after the audit of the 2018 accounts. She will be formally proposed to members at the 2019 AGM. Many thanks to Rosemary for taking this on.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 3 Our other appeal for help with the magazine and social media remains open. If you can help, have any relevant expertise, or know someone who does, please do get in touch with me or any committee member as soon as possible! You can contact me at [email protected] or on 07947-217840

As we approach the end of 2018 it just remains for me to thank you for your continued membership and support, and wish you a safe, enjoyable and peaceful winter and all the best for 2019.

Happy Squeezing!

Delivery of Concertina World (Note from Roger Gawley)

We may have given some members the idea that there are plans to discontinue Concertina World as a printed-and-posted magazine.

This impression is not correct. There is no proposal to stop printing Concertina World and mailing it to members who wish to receive it in that way.

Several members have asked about the possibility of electronic delivery of Concertina World. At present our efforts are concentrated on recruiting an editorial team to carry on when the present editor hands over. Once that is in place, we may consider ways in which Concertina World could be delivered to those members who prefer an electronic version as well as those who prefer to see it in print. <>

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 4 INTERNET VIDEO JUKEBOX 18

INTERNET VIDEO JUKEBOX 18 Compiled by Paul Walker For speedy access: Go to the ICA web site where Michel van der Meiren, our ace Webmaster, has turned the hyperlinks into a stunning TV-like slideshow. Excellent work Michel.

First an exciting sneak preview of next spring’s planned tour on the Peterloo massacre. Featuring two concertina players and a melodeon squeezer (tho all are multi- instrumentalists). So plenty to interest CW readers: Brian Peters – “Kersal Moor” Broadside ballad written in 1838 about the great Chartist meeting at Kersal Moor, Salford, set to a tune written by Brian. Live performance at the Bridge , Newcastle, November 2018. The song features in 'The Road to Peterloo' concert performance featuring Brian Peters, Pete Coe and Laura Smyth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc41I79XWqY

Steve Taggart – Hawkeyed sleuth of the WWWeb has contributed three items this issue: Danny Spooner performs at the 2009 Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival in Bannerman Park in St. John's, NL. Steve reports: “An object lesson in accompanying your own singing, in spite of a most disrespectful audience. Their loss, l would say:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DegONENQU8U

Brian Hyland – Carolan’s Concerto – “A real good effort, on Anglo:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q04V6uPkIGk

Do you think we could ever persuade any of the younger members of the ICA to have a go at the concertina version of this sort of thing? (l did try it myself but my amboyna Aeola really didn't like it). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNIBJ0PLWNU Well Paul, you did suggest l should have a look on the Dark Web!”

Chris Droney | Gradam Saoil. Well-respected elder statesman of Irish concertina playing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbTweQZTbbk&list=PLGnnNGIY 7-Ypm9bxu-22KJtpef0aoBIhf

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 5 Kosie Beukes: Konsertina is net 1 van 13 vir Kosie – excellent youth playing – from South Africa I think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkhiBaVsEAk

Steve Wilson – The Beatles' Honey Pie on concertina. Excursion into jazz concertina. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC-2R_3fIwM

Beautiful playing (worth putting up with the grainy video) Morning mist; The plough and the stars, reels by Mary MacNamara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWXWD2sVe8E

A tune on a trusty Stagi concertina, the Catharsis by Amy Cann. Accompaniment on guitar and bouzouki, both by self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GMbmOiTPns

Simon Thoumire – This is a vlog about the technique I use to play two finger rolls on the concertina and other uses for the technique and I'll play a couple of tunes to demonstrate it! Charlie Warlie and Nhaimh's Capers (by Gerry O'Connor!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBokCj8JtmU [Simon notes: If you enjoy these videos please consider supporting my Patreon http://www.patreon.com/simonthoumire]

The first music video from Ímar, originally released in January 2016 (featuring the Award winning Mohsen Amini on Anglo). Tunes: Air Mignonne - Simon Riopel / Luke Skywalker Walks On Sunshine - David Stone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFalXoDhurA

A sampler of Swedish dance tunes recorded by the duo Limehouse Cut – Christine Dyer (nyckelharpa) & Michael Hebbert (concertina) - in Hawksmoor's church of St Anne's Limehouse. Includes ‘Appelbo Gånglåt’, ‘Fanteladda’, ‘Lappkungens Polska’ & ’Slängpolska efter Byss-Calle No.32'. Film by Sue Swift. Michael shared his love of World Music in a workshop on his at the Swaledale Squeeze a few years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAqBG8Gfbvi

Readers : please share your YouTube links of concertina players of any genre with the editor.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 6 Concertina World welcomes Vox Hunters.

Hailing from the US state of Rhode Island, Armand Aromin and Benedict Gagliardi are seekers and singers of old songs, cultivators of local music, and multi-instrumentalists. Their genuine affinity for the music is evident in the emotion they draw from it. With a pair of oft-harmonizing voices tastefully garnished with , both Anglo & English , and tenor guitar, The Vox Hunters offer an original connection to the living tradition of folk music.

PW: You both have day jobs Armand and Benedict? So is performing a hobby?

Armand: We both have day jobs, though Benedict’s is more full- time than mine. He’s a Lab Coordinator at the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab at Rhode Island School of Design. He received his master’s degree in Entomology from the University of Connecticut but opted out of the standard post-graduate trajectory into the depths of Academia. Instead, serendipity helped him land his satisfying full-time position at RISD where he primarily aids art students in viewing the small-scale wonders of the natural world via microscopy and advanced imaging technology. I’m a full-time part- timer. My fullest part-time job is as a violin maker and repairer in my home studio. The commute is nice, especially on a snowy morning. As long as I don’t trip on a dog toy when I cross the hall I’m good to go.

For us, performing is very much a part of how we make our living, but we do our best to treat it like a hobby. Keep it fun, keep it interesting, always mix things up, endeavour towards mastering the art of messing up well, and never get bored!

PW: How did you come to take up the concertina − you both play other instruments?

Armand: I grew up playing Irish music on the fiddle and with a brief detour on the . I had also attempted to learn the melodeon and the Anglo in the past, but it proved to be too upsetting for my brain. came into my life after Ben and I started dating and he brought me along to maritime

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 7 folk festivals around New England. Wanting to find an alternative instrument for song accompaniment, I became attracted to the charismatic chromaticism of the English system. At the time, I was a stronger tune player than I was a singer, so the best way for me to get to know the button layout was to start translating everything I knew on fiddle onto the box. After forgetting my original reason for taking up the English for a couple of years, I’m now getting back into song accompaniment!

Benedict: Anglo concertina was in fact the first musical instrument I ever played − I consider the plastic recorder that was forced into my 3rd grade hands to be an instrument of torture more than music, and, in fact, it soured my personal appreciation for music- making early on. My later inexplicable affinity for the “” was born from what I assumed was the typical driving force of interest in the instrument: a youthful aspiration to be a pirate (or something comparable to that)! In high school, I happened to come across a cassette of a sea music/Irish folk band in the attic, and after listening to the first track (a Robert Burns song melody played on club-style button accompanied by spoons) I hopped on eBay and foolishly purchased a cheap 20-button Anglo concertina. I struggled through the challenges of musically operating that wonky box eventually learning scales and picking out a few folk song and shanty melodies before I graduated to a more playable 30-button Stagi. Then I drifted into the Irish music world and learned tons of tunes at sessions in Connecticut. My song accompaniment style on Anglo concertina is very much informed by the way I play tunes, and vice versa.

PW: Is there any tradition of concertina playing locally where you are based?

Benedict: We live in the smallest state in the country and, to our knowledge, there are a total of four Anglo and five English players. Armand and I tend to wield our boxes in a wide array of musical arenas including but not limited to Irish, Swedish, Old Time, American and British folk songs, Maritime music, Muppet songs, and whatever else catches our ears. One of the Rhode Island Anglo players is a singer-songwriter who happens to use a concertina as his main axe. Still yet to meet him, so he potentially doesn’t exist.

It’s hard to say whether there is a tradition of concertina playing in Rhode Island or not, but there are definitely concertinas being

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 8 played here and a history of local folk music in which concertinas may have featured. Providence County has long been an area where Irish music could be heard. Interestingly, there is also a concertina band tradition in New Bedford, Massachusetts which is relatively nearby. See more details here: http://www.concertina.info/tina.faq/images/newbed.htm

PW: I particularly like the way you've researched local songs in your repertoire and feature tunes from Rhode Island et al. Was this to give the band an identity?

Armand: Yes, let’s go with that! Prior to shifting our gears and primarily focusing on music from Rhode Island, our identity was still that of our own. As a duo, we’ve never aspired to be pinned down to one style of music, which makes jumping from Irish tunes to Appalachian ballads to Swedish polskas to Rhode Island songs less of a jarring experience for the listener. When it comes to singing, we tend to eschew the Ewan MacColl school of singing (in the native dialect of the song), and, frankly, we find the idea of it mortifying. Of course, songs from particular parts of the world may gently tug us in their stylism, but you’ll never find me singing in a Jamaican accent. My own accent is just fine as it is!

PW: Rhode Island is a part of America we don't hear much from compared to say Memphis Tennessee?

Armand: Which is exactly why we felt compelled to start doing more local research into our state! We want people to know that Rhode Island has more to it than just Family Guy. We often hear other folks introducing their own music as songs their mother taught them, or a ballad by a lumberman from their hometown in Minnesota, etc. It was after hearing stuff like that from fellow musicians that we decided we needed to have something of our own to share with others. Now we have 19th century jingles about shoe stands, horrific mill fires, and ballads about logs rolling on top of people!

There are so many lovely collections and resources for folk songs and ballads in parts of America, but nothing specific to our state which has been around much longer than Memphis, Tennessee and other hotbeds of “American” folk music. As we began to dig in books and collections like Lomax and Flanders and trove digital archives of broadside ballads, we found there are plenty of songs from or about

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 9 our state and its history. We hope that what we are doing encourages more younger folk musicians to similarly compile localized songs and tunes from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Idaho, and other areas that aren’t typically thought of as areas of definitively “America” folk music.

PW: It's interesting that you find a resonance/empathy with Brian Peters (noted UK Anglo player) who has featured local Northwest (English) tunes in his repertoire for a good while?

Benedict: Brian has been a significant musical influence on us (especially me as the resident Anglo player) for a long time. I was completely flabbergasted to learn what an Anglo could do outside of sea shanties and Irish tunes the first time I heard Brian’s fully accompanied concertina setting of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer”. It was an enlightening verification that he had not chosen a silly little instrument that could only play certain types of tunes. I remember making friends listen to Brian’s playing in highschool to show them what the squeezebox was capable of (and sloppily attempting to mimic the arrangements on my cheap concertina too!) I first met Brian in 2011 at the Mystic Sea Music Festival in Connecticut (see picture below for proof). After that, and ever since, Brian has also been a major scholarly influence for two aspiring folksong nerds. It’s musical researchers like Brian that have inspired and encouraged us to look into the underexplored areas of traditional music like that of Rhode Island.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 10 PW: Would your instrumental sets be classed as Old-Time?

Armand: Not always, though it’s an interest of ours. We’ve also tried to shake off the Irish Music label despite that being our main background. We’ve drawn influences from so many sources, so it’s hard to say whether we specialize in such-and-such style of music. Let’s classify our music as Rhode Island.

In Providence, we do often attend Irish tune sessions but we also host a monthly Old-Time jam focused on American fiddle tunes. Benedict trades out his concertina for a bushel of harmonicas at these events. On top of that we are always interested in learning more English tunes from Morris Dancing friends in southern CT and western MA, Swedish tunes from anyone who has some, Cajun tunes from fellow Providence folks, and hopefully some Portuguese, Cape Verdean, and Italian music someday since there is a long history of those cultures in Providence.

PW: How do you work out your vocal harmonies − they are quite different than say the Louvin brothers?

Armand: Often in the car on the way to gigs. For the most part, I tend to happily take the harmony-end of our music-making, which began with my attraction to Swedish folk music, as well as a little with Shape Note singing. I love being able to influence the direction and mood a song can go in by singing certain notes. As Ben and I have similar ranges, it does me no good to always stay below or above him, so we tend to cross over a lot. We especially love the way Gary & Vera Aspey do it so seamlessly!

Benedict: I approach harmony singing with good intentions and instincts gleaned from my shanty-singing musical origins, but not with the trained ear and musical terminology that Armand has at his command. There is always give and take to our harmony-crafting and we never completely lock down an arrangement. We like things to be a bit raw and malleable.

PW: Playfulness seems to be a key point in your approach − starting with your band name?

VH: It took us forever to figure out a duo name. We are envious of those who are fortunate enough to have been gifted with catchy, few­syllabled surnames − “Aromin & Gagliardi” has zero ring to it,

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 11 and requires constant spell-checking. We instead started out with the usual “Armand & Ben/Benedict” or “Ben/Benedict & Armand” until people started suggesting “Armadict” and we knew it was time to figure out something that rolled off the tongue nicely. We were standing in line at Loie Fuller’s for “Mussel Monday” desperately throwing out possible catchy words when we started thinking singing… voice… vox… when one of us randomly and half-jokingly said, “The Vox Hunters?”, in reference to numerous popular Irish tunes “The Fox Hunter’s Reel/Slip /Hop Jig/etc.” and the oft-sung fox hunting songs that can be heard at local pub sings. That was that. Our plates of $5 mussels and frites were particularly gritty that night, but it was worth it.

PW: And there's a lot of jollity in your live performance which I think gets the audience on your side? By the end of your performance at the Crosskeys folk club, you had the audience eating out of your hand!

VH: One of our main missions as performing musicians is to ensure that who we are on stage are the same people you encounter off stage. We appreciate authentic and consistent personalities in other performers and conversely find it difficult not to notice how some folks “switch” to performer mode once they put on their uniforms, so to speak. You won’t find us donning any “performance clothes” prior to a gig − Benedict is invariably dressed in a tucked­in, button-down shirt with pens and pad in the pocket, and Armand’s well-worn hoodie is a cosy constant. We like to keep things natural, interact with the audience, embrace the space, and run with whatever happens. And being life-long students of the Art of Messing Up also make performances much more enjoyable. Not that we intend to screw up a performance, but being able to laugh and recover while bringing the audience along for the ride is important. Without that skill, it’s like someone turning on the lights in the middle of a movie you’re invested in.

PW: How far are you prepared to travel for your gigs?

VH: After this summer, we’ve realized that we’re not hugely interested in being touring musicians; at least at this point in our lives. We like little weekends and week-long jaunts here and there, and we especially love playing local gigs. “Sing Often!” and “Sing Local!” have become some of our mantras. That being said, after our trip in England this past April, we have come to a few important

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 12 conclusions: we want to go back immediately, manual-cars are the bane of Armand’s existence, and the state of beer in America is atrocious.

PW: I believe you were teaching at a folk weekend when you first met Brian Peters? A very enjoyable way to earn a dollar?

VH: We both met Brian at different points. Benedict’s first Brian encounter was an all too brief meeting in 2011 at the Mystic Sea Music Festival as discussed above. Armand likely met him fiveish years later. More importantly we were able to get in substantial music-making at TradMaD Camp (http://www.tradmadcamp.org/) at Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 2017. Being paid to share the joys of such revelry with others while eating some of the best food we’ve ever had is hard to beat.

PW: What kind of profile does the ICA have in the USA?

VH: We had no idea such a thing existed until we met you! Our lives have since substantially improved.

PW: How could the ICA raise its profile in the USA? (Our aim is to promote concertina playing, especially among the youth; also to preserve/archive the best of concertina traditions − via recordings and written music).

VH: Since learning about the ICA through you, we've been encountering it more online! Maybe it's something that's always been around, but now you have shown us the light, so... As for raising ICA-awareness in the USA, perhaps some more social media work is in order! All the hip kids are doing it and nothing looks sexier than a couple of issues of the ICA through Instagram filters. That's what we hear, anyways. Or perhaps a stronger presence on another platform such as Facebook or YouTube? Or maybe something as simple as a Facebook ad? We've had great success using that.

PW: Tell us the back-stories to your stage material. (I particularly like "Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me" and "Groundhog/Pawtuxet" on your CD.)

Armand: Ironically, as soon as we put out our album last year, we immediately switched gears and starting diving deeper in the Rhode

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 13 Island material. But, since you asked, we can make an exception! We first heard "Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me" from a band called Parsonsfield. They're rising stars in the folk rock world and one of their tracks was even featured in an episode of The Walking Dead! They're friends of ours and former downstairs neighbours of Ben's, as well as former classmates from the University of Connecticut. Their take on it is quite different, but our setting is based closer to the original Mississippi John Hurt version, which is the way we heard it on Scott Ainslie's album, The Last Shot Got Him.

"Groundhog" first came into Ben's life as a tune, later adding verses from a recording by Doc Watson, as well as various songbooks. If I recall, Doc Watson's recording isn't quite the same format as ours, which I suspect is Ben's doing. (We have a habit of committing such crimes, particularly when adapting songs for pub sings.) "Pawtuxet" was a tune that I wrote when I was a pre- college-drop-out student in the Old Time Ensemble at Berklee College of Music in 2007. I had originally titled it "The Boat House", after a particular building in Pawtuxet Village in Rhode Island, but I later learned that Irish fiddle player had already written a tune with that name... and probably to retroactively spite me, she also wrote a tune called "The House Boat". So, I put it away for ten years before it somehow came back into my life. Ben suggested we rename it "Pawtuxet", in an effort to be more Rhode-Island-centric, and the rest is history. And speaking of history, Pawtuxet Village was near where the HMS Gaspee was sunk by a number of locals, which contrary to what most people will tell you, was the first of many events that would eventually lead to the American Revolution!

PW: Thanks Armand and Benedict for a fascinating insight into an area of American music (Rhode Island) we hear little about in the UK.

Readers: a listen to Vox Hunters’ CD or a look at their sheet music collection (“The Ocean State Songster”) will definitely repay the investment. Check out their website www.thevoxhunters.com

Also many thanks to Brian Peters − not only for introducing me to the band, but also for facilitating contact with the duo during the interview. <>

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 14 “Train on the Island”- Jody Kruskal & Friends (available from www.jodykruskal.com) Paul Walker

I can't stop playing this CD which is a beautiful slice of Americana. It's a masterclass in how to accompany − and sing a raft of songs that evoke the romance of the US railroads. The genre is Old Time in the wider sense: quintessential American roots − yodelling (sourced from Richard Hamilton in the 40s), wild fiddling reels (“Jenny on the Railroad”), children's campfire hullabaloo, country and western and ragtime − “L & N Rag” (originally from Alex Hood & his Railroad Boys in the 30s). Coincidently I saw Jody in concert in Stockport only a few days before listening to the CD. And the impression from that gig (which pervades the whole album) is of his warm, inspired persona − a performer in love with his subject matter. And his performances are in consequence elevated. Jody’s Anglo playing is both subtle and immaculate. Effortlessly sharing solos with fiddle or mandolin one minute then squeezing out melodic fills like a mouth harp. He plays a simple yet really effective baritone part to ’Cannonball blues’ (from the singing of Charlie Poole 1926). And great to hear the concertina playing the blues (pentatonic minor scale?) on Doc Watson’s ‘Walk on By’. It's heartening to find that adept as JK obviously is on the Anglo concertina, he sees no reason to show off that skill − the Anglo is simply instrumental in delivering these wonderful songs. Equally he is not precious about his concertinas − I watched him at the Midway folk club manhandling his Dipper-made instrument, grappling with the bellows to squeeze out emotive riffs. All as if it were a threepenny cardboard toy. Just as it should be! A quote from the sleeve-notes admirably sums up the CD’s themes, “ Hoboes, labourers, adventurers, and lovers are tempted by the sound [of the steam-whistle] ‘to hop that freight and ride’ as they look for a better life or to try to escape loneliness, regret and heartache". The major innovation that may surprise long-term Jodie Kruskal fans on this ground-breaking album, is the introduction of the autoharp. In fact he was awarded a grant by the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering which helped fund the railroad project. Not bad for a relative beginner! I did wonder if this might be the Achilles heel of the CD (compared with his advanced skills on the squeezebox). Not a bit of it − Jody uses delightful autoharp chord work e.g. to accompany the sublime “City of New Orleans” (written

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 15 by Steve Goodman). Also generously Jody invites on board luminaries such as Cindy Harris for flashier autoharp parts leaving him to solo on the Anglo. Indeed there is an excellent live band feel to the recording (which I suspect derives from high quality production) − as friends including Indiana Hoover on guitar and Nick Stillman on fiddle, among others, help out. As a postscript, it did occur to me having played the CD to death − Jody concludes that these songs and tunes are from another age. I would find it really fascinating for him to present as a volume 2 to this exploration, of the American dream post 1980; to look at how contemporary American songwriters deal with current American issues such as the decline of the American steel industry. It would be great to hear Jody’s Anglo and autoharp on songs by Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle for example. For lovers of American music or the Anglo concertina, this CD is a must buy.<>

West Country Concertina Players’ Weekend at Quantock Lodge October 2018 Martin Henshaw

The October residential weekend put on by the WCCP moved venue from Kilve Court to Quantock Lodge just a few miles away. This was going to be a big change and a step into the unknown. I was really keen to see the new venue and find out how it would work for the club.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 16 My journey down from Bedford was my usual route across the Chiltern and Cotswold Hills so avoiding the M25 and M4. Friday afternoon was quite pleasant although it did rain briefly. The leaves were turning and the views along the route were wonderful. Once on the M5 I could feel strong side winds but not serious enough to slow me down. The satnav instructed me to leave at junction 23 which took me by surprise as I expected to leave at the next junction. I thought that perhaps I had selected the wrong postcode before starting off so I double checked – the directions were correct and after leaving Bridgwater I had to take a left turn before reaching Kilve to head towards Quantock Lodge. From that point on the roads became narrower and narrower. I turned up the drive into the Lodge grounds and eventually found the entrance to the building and a drivable route to the parking area in front of the house.

Once inside I was impressed by the height and size of the rooms. The weekend organisers were already there helping and guiding people to sign in and find their allocated rooms. There was a welcoming log fire and cups of tea on hand for people as they arrived.

After the Friday evening meal the workshops started in earnest. People dispersed to all corners of the building to do their particular thing.

I had bought myself a Crane Duet at the Swaledale Squeeze last May and was keen to join Paul McCann with his duettists some of whom must be really slow learners as they have been to his beginners’ workshop since the year dot. Apart from me the others were really quite expert on their instruments. Both McCann and Crane duets were represented. Paul started us off with Autumn Child in D major. Everyone else in the group managed to find the notes but for my first piece away from the C major scale it proved too much. I took the sheet music to my bedroom and over the course of the weekend ploughed through it managing to find the notes (if somewhat hesitantly) by the end of play Sunday afternoon. The others went on to play Que Sera Sera, Lovely Nancy, and Allangrange by Paul Machlis. Also Carillon in Goslar (a bit like Monk's March) and Keating's Triumph from the film Dead Poets' Society by Maurice Jarre. These two tunes were performed at the showcase presentation after lunch on Sunday.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 17 I had my own Song Accompaniment Workshop to lead based on the English concertina but equally applicable to other systems. I had not led the workshop for some years and the workshop manual I had originally written has in the meantime undergone numerous changes.

We started off with half the group holding the C on the lower left hand side of the instrument whilst the others played the scale of C major paying particular attention to how note pairs sounded i.e. harmonious or discordant. From there we went through what notes made up a chord, how and where a chord could be played on the instrument and the principle of the three chord trick i.e. a chord progression.

The songs used in the workshop were Kum Ba Ya and Michael Row the Boat Ashore. Starting with Kum Ba Ya we went along the melody line one note at a time and comparing them with the notes used in the chords of the three chord trick. Thus we selected the chords we wanted to play. The test was then to play the chords against the tune either by humming it or having someone else playing it. The final proof on whether the chord selection is good are one’s ears. They are the judge and jury. If at any point the ears were saying that chord is wrong another chord had to be selected until the ears were satisfied. The same process was used for Michael Row the Boat ashore. As the key of C Major would not suit everyone’s voice we looked at transposing the chords for C major into other keys using conversion tables. Finally we split the group in two with one playing the melody and the other playing chords and everyone singing. It never ceases to amaze me how much can be achieved in such a short time. For the workshop presentation we sang both songs and had the whole room join in after the first verse.

Quantock Lodge being so large it allowed for a greater variety of workshops than at Kilve. It is wonderful to have such a choice but it means some people having to decide between two or three options all running at the same time. Other workshop groups included English Beginners led by Colin Sleath, English Ensemble Music - Sally Barrett, Anglo Beginners - Steve Grayland, Anglo Improvers - Andrew Collins, Playing by Ear - Kate Portal, Feeling the Tune - Kate Stokes, Trying Other Systems - Liz Millward, Playing Rounds - Adrian Waters, Slow Session Tunes - Paul Hardy, Band For All (easier band pieces) - Paul Barrett and last but by no means least

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 18 the Band Workshop with Claire Wren. Keeping us all playing by fixing any problems that our concertinas developed during the weekend was Dave Elliott at his Concertina Repair Workshop.

Saturday after the evening meal the tutors put on a concert showing what the beginners will be doing themselves as they progress in their chosen music genre.

After lunch on the Sunday it was the students’ turn to show the other groups what they had been doing over the weekend with some really polished performances.

The venue worked out to be a big improvement for the Beginners’ Weekend. Quantock Lodge is a fantastic place and the staff there did an amazing job looking after us. The accommodation at least in the main building had very comfortable beds and en suite bathrooms. Once away from the main halls downstairs the rooms were very quiet. You could not hear anything going on outside the bedrooms. There was a fire alarm incident when the alarms went off accidentally (no fire at all) at about 1am Saturday morning. It took a while before the alarm was stopped. Some people even slept through all of it which is a little worrying. The alarm was eventually switched off by the owner who could not hear the alarm as she was still in the kitchen preparing our breakfasts.

It takes a great deal of time and effort to organise the WCCP weekends so on behalf of all who were there I would like to express thanks to Rosemary Kavanagh and her team: Paul McCann and Margaret Foord-Divers with help along the way and at the weekend from Alex Kay, Trish Nicklen and the WCCP Committee.

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Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 19 Grave Matters

From "Highgate cemetery: Victorian Valhalla" (1984) - by Felix Barker, photographs by John Gay.

Received from John Titford, Bookseller, Tel. (+44) (0) 1773 520389 Higham Derbyshire DE55 6AG England

Does anyone know who Frederick William Hobart or Frances Sophia Hobart is? Have a story about them? PS

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 20 An Interview with Cormac Begley Bill Crossland

Cormac was interviewed during the Feakle festival in East Clare in August, where he was one of the three concertina tutors.

BC: The Begley family have quite a musical presence in Irish music?

CB: Both sides of my family, the Begleys and the O’Connors, have a long musical history. My mother is a brilliant accordion player, and my uncle Tommy O’Connor is my favourite player, great drive and heart in his music. My grandfather on my mother’s side was a great Sean Nos dancer, and his brother as well. And on the Begley side, my father Brendan and Uncle Seamus are great accordion players and singers. We have a lot of singers in the family, all my aunties sang – Eileen was a beautiful singer, Josephine, Kathleen, Moira and Breda – Eileen, Breda and Moira all presented programmes on RTE in English about Irish singing, and my father presented musical programmes on TG4. Before them are box and fiddle players too.

BC: Have the families always been in West Kerry?

CB: For five or six generations back, yes, both families, and the O’Connors probably longer. The Begleys are descended from Gallowglass Scots, who settled in Donegal in (Bheaglaoich from Bheag, little and laoich meaning warrior hero), brought over from Scotland to fight for Irish chieftains against the English. They fought in the battle of Limerick on the losing side and carried on down the west coast to Kerry. There are Lynch’s, O’Donnells in the mix, all with great music. My great, great, great grand uncle, Thomas O’Donnell was his name, represented West Kerry in parliament at Westminster in the very early 1900’s. He was the first person to address the house in Gaelic, os gaeilge – as a result a law was

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 21 passed that made English the only language that could be used to address the house! There is quite a musical mixture in West Kerry – Canon Goodman, the famous Irish collector, found a lot of pipe music there in the 19th century.

BC: You haven’t lived in Kerry all your life?

CB: No, my father was a woodwork teacher in a secondary school in Dublin, I was born and lived there for 10 years – we moved down to live in Kerry after that, but we’d have been down to Kerry to stay with the families at every opportunity before that, Christmas, Easter and summer. So I grew up in Dublin, heard lots of music there at parties my parents had, and Dad played regularly in Hughes’ pub behind the Four Courts. There was a big revival of interest in dancing, music and culture in the 90’s, I would have grown up in the middle of that.

BC: You were relatively late taking up the concertina?

CB: I was about 17 when I started playing the concertina, but there was always music in the house. In Dublin I’d be listening to players like Mary MacNamara, Johnny O’Leary, Martin Hayes, Micho Russell, a lot of people would be coming to the house. To be honest I didn’t really enjoy the music but always listened to it passively……then I went to a few lessons with Mary as a teenager, and I was always forced to go to Willie’s week and go to classes there. I think that from the age of 12 for six or seven years I couldn’t be told what to do……… I was never interested in playing until my brother started playing guitar when he was about 18 – I was a bit judgemental on traditional music, I think I knew what I liked from a young age. I’ve a lot of memories of hearing really great music where I can remember exactly where I was and what was happening with real clarity and the sort of shudder that went through me when I heard it…. but I still had no urge to play. When I did start playing I was almost resentful of the fact that people would expect me to be good because I was a Begley, I could hear people saying at festivals that “Oh, he’s so and so’s son, get him to play a tune” and I’d just crumble under the pressure – I didn’t know a lot of tunes at the time, and I had years of that….

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 22 It was hard to escape music in the house, but when I went to university at 18 I realised the value of it in terms of making friends, I enjoyed the trad society and getting to know people through music – I got addicted to concertina music then. I was based in Kerry until I went to university in Galway but not to study music – I did a degree, then a PhD in psychology.

BC: Was there any concertina playing in the family?

CB: I come from a long line of box players, but I was never forced down that route – Dad was good in that he also played lots of instruments and gave us children the freedom to choose – my brother plays guitar and my sister plays fiddle and dances – there were always lots of instruments around. My cousin Aogán Lynch is a concertina player – he won the TG4 Young Musician of the Year in 1999 – I guess I looked up to him. And I loved East Clare music, Mary Mac’s sensitive and rhythmic style – it’s had a huge impact on me in lots of ways. Mary above anyone in terms of her concertina playing and her approach opened up lots of musical doors for me. She lent a concertina to me before I had one of my own, which really helped – not just Mary, but her brother Andy, Martin Hayes, , and lots of the younger players there now as well, it feels like East Clare is my musical home.

BC: Your first and highly acclaimed solo CD is a couple of years old now – the pictorial breakdown of the Jeffries anglo is an interesting approach!

CB: Yes, Jack Talty and I were teaching concertina when I had the idea. We had Cillian O’Mongain (the album designer) with us and took the end of a Jeffries concertina of mine to show the internals and asked him to see if it was possible to construct a CD case which was concertina shaped. And nearly everyone involved in making the CD was a concertina player, I’m very proud of that. Jack recorded, mixed and mastered it, Sarah Flynn took the pictures to make up the layers from the buttons to the inside of the bellows, and Cillian is also a player. It was important to me to record all the tracks in one take, we did it live in St Nicholas’ church in Galway and there’s no better man than Jack to help you feel at ease as you go through the process. I find the recording process hard, it’s a tough environment to be sitting down with microphones in front of you and be expected to play well. I often find it more exciting to be playing in front of an

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 23 audience, I guess you’ve got more to lose when you are putting yourself on the line a bit more – I’m scared of that but I also like the challenge.

BC: The live feel of the CD is really helped by the recording environment in the church…

CB: Yes, we’ve used the church for two other CD’s, “Na Fir Bolg” (The Bellows Men) that Jack and I did together a few years ago, and “Tunes in the Church” which was a selection of recordings taken from the concerts we do there over the summer season. I think the church is about 700 years old, it was designed for singing and the voice, but it really suits the concertina – the acoustics there are second to none. When you’re playing in there it sort of sings back at you, a great place to play. But great credit to Jack too, it isn’t an easy place to record with all the echoes and the like. It allows you to get into yourself, to feel the music in that environment, the walls sort of speak to you and there is such a history to the place – it can be eerie in there at night which makes you more sensitive to things. The church and rector great, Gary Hastings was very accommodating and if the church is available they let us in to practice and record as much as we like.

BC: There is some of your own music on the CD – do you write many tunes?

CB: I don’t really, I’ve maybe three or four written, including Polka John that’s on the CD, but my father Brendan has lots of good tunes.

BC: You have an enviable collection of concertinas – how did that come about?

CB: When I went back to college to do post graduate, I was skint and ended up living in a camper van – during that period of time I got into buying and selling concertinas – keeping the best and selling the rest…. That helped me finance buying the baritones and bass, trebles in different keys, and the piccolo I have – that plays a couple of octaves above a standard treble. From the lowest note on the bass to the highest on the piccolo, I can span around seven octaves, but I can’t play them all at once!

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 24 BC: You seem to be a player whose rhythm is in your body, what’s it physically like playing one of these big instruments?

CB: It’s a bit of a workout, the bass is about three times the size of a regular concertina, it’s physically demanding, depending on the style you play – and I probably play more rhythmically than some! There are limitations to what you can do with it but there’s also percussive stuff you can do on the bass that you can’t on smaller instruments. That’s the beauty of the bass and the baritones – it opens different kind of spaces of sounds to explore and you can turn the limitations into positives. And with the bass if you pull hard on the bellows you can bend the notes, which is another useful effect!

BC: Tell us a bit more about the baritone and bass, and how you got into them?

CB: I’ve always been drawn to lower ranges, always been drawn to the deep viola or cello and double bass sounds. It was Stephen Chambers who opened my eyes to baritone instruments, and Pat O’Reilly who was selling the Dipper baritone on Cnet – I tried it and fell in love with it. The Dipper bass came along more recently, it’s a mighty and physical instrument – no need to go to the gym… I got my first baritone from Stephen Chambers, who had a shop in Miltown, around 2007 – I hadn’t seen one before and certainly heard no one in Ireland playing one for traditional music. I heard later that May MacNamara had recorded a track on a borrowed baritone on one of her albums, and the Ella Mae O’Dwyer played a double octave German concertina but they weren’t common. I’ve two baritones, one in C/G, one in Bb/F, and now I’ve two bass ones as well, one in Ab/Eb, and one in G/D. The bass instruments have drone keys operated by levers which you can lock down, that takes a lot of strain off your hands and frees them up to play the tune!

BC: It must be quite a challenge playing so many instruments in different keys and being able to adapt at a moment’s notice to whoever you are playing with?

CB: It’s OK, I generally have enough instruments to fit in! The G/D system is interesting – a lot of older people would have played G/D instruments, but there has been a shift to C/G – a bit like the accordion, the old C#/D has shifted to B/C. To my ears there is more of a punch and bite to G/D, pros and cons for both systems but there are obvious benefits to G/D. But everything you learn on

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 25 one system can be applied on the others and I think there is a lot more potential on a concertina that’s yet to explore. I’ve also got a lovely old Praed Street Jeffries concertina pitched with A at 432Hz, probably my favourite instrument, it’s a beautiful natural tone. And at the top end my Lachenal piccolo anglo is in C/G.

BC: When you play a concertina even the smaller ones, it’s obvious that you are very physically involved and deeply attached…

CB: Well, it’s an extension of you, and my playing has transitioned to that over the years I’ve been playing, and I’ve fine-tuned it.

BC: How do your concertinas stand up to your heavier style of playing?

CB: Well, I’ve never broken one – maybe knocked a few pads off here and there but there are lots of interesting sounds and effects you can explore from using the bellows, whether they are working normally or what you might consider to be abnormally! I‘m more interested in the honesty of experience, being honest with the way I feel and letting it out in the music. I just respect people who do that in all walks of life, and my favourite musicians are those that let out the good, the bad and the ugly.

BC: Does your Kerry musical background influence your style?

CB: It does, inevitably, but my primary influences would have been East and West Clare, with Mary Mac, Martin Hayes, Paddy Canny – I only met him once, but my father had lots of recordings of his playing, I just loved the pace and style. I have adopted some of the wilder side of West Kerry into my concertina playing, with the slides and . I probably wouldn’t be the best person to analyse what I’m doing. I find it strange to tie it back to place, and say it’s the West Kerry influence, I’m not sure that it’s the proper source – I think it’s more the feeling and emotion and experience. It’s the atmosphere around a certain feeling that you can create. It’s hard to find the right phrase to describe it. There are so many tunes that speak to different feelings and emotions, with a sort of internal formula that speaks to every aspect of our lived experience – that’s why they have lasted so long. Sometimes tunes just call you because they are saying something to you that the person who composed it has

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 26 experienced so if you are honest with yourself and sensitive to stuff like that it allows you to communicate some of that shared experience to the listener.

BC: You’ve played in some nice combinations – the Na Fir Bolg CD with Jack Talty, your work with the group Ré, have you anything coming down the line with others?

CB: Well, there’s a few people I’ve been playing a lot with – Liam O’Connor, and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, both great fiddlers. I’ve done a few concerts with Jack Talty and Noel Hill as the group “Concertina”, with the singer Liam Ó Maonlaí – and my sister Clíodhna. I’ve got the One Man Show (four gigs) next year and I’m playing with Martin Hayes in the Bantry Festival later this year. I’ve got plenty of plans for the immediate future.

BC: And with Rushad Eggleston – cellist and singer extraordinaire?

CB: Yes, we have a CD recorded a few months ago, we’ll probably release it to coincide with his next visit over here from the USA next year.

BC: Would you say all your music is traditional – for instance I’ve never seen you play live with Rushad, but some of the clips on YouTube are perhaps less than “traditional”?

CB: Yeah, well, I suppose it’s a bit of both – I’ve just appeared on Páraic Mac Donnchadha’s CD of traditional music on the banjo, I’ve also played with the poet Stephen James Smith, and recorded on Lisa O’Neill’s singer songwriter album. Rushad is from the planet Sneth, he writes his own poetry and songs, speaks his own language, so it’s a crossover between traditional music and traditional music from Sneth….. Labels are important but music isn’t to be defined by them either! I play traditionally and I’m in that world, I’ll always be in that world, but there will be things I do outside of that both for the music for the enjoyment – and the learnings, particularly with Rushad. He’s an extraordinary cellist, words can’t do him justice. I played him a tune called Master Crowley’s, it took me years to learn but within three minutes he had it, phrasing and everything, he’s just another level. Playing with all these other masters is always challenging yourself – often I’m not happy with the way I play but there’s no

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 27 better way to learn and improve than by playing with good people, great minds, great musicians, it’s part of the journey – who else would you like to be around?!

BC: You certainly keep yourself busy – your Airt residential school is gaining a good reputation…

CB: Yes, thanks – the word airt in Irish means a point on a compass, a direction or a guide. So apart from concertina classes, we’ve had photography, knitting (40 people from Canada), choirs, singing, painting, comedy, music and art dance. Basically, what we try to do is bring the best to the best, in any field, we bring interesting people down to meet interested people to a rural Irish speaking community, and great things can happen. We provide accommodation and food and the time to do whatever you want to do. Being on the road, as I am, I get to meet lots of different artists who can be engaged to provide the courses. And it’s growing in popularity, people are coming to me with ideas on courses they would like to attend, and I have a long list of potential tutors and subject areas. (The website is www.airt.ie) And I run the “Tunes in the Church” concerts every summer, based in St Nicholas’ collegiate church, Galway. It runs five nights a week from June to the end of August, barring Race Week - it supports a pool of local musicians and dancers, all acoustic, and it’s interactive so you can get to meet and talk to real people with a common love of traditional music. According to the Fáilte Ireland the main reason people come to Ireland is to meet Irish people, the second is for the culture, top of which traditional music. The idea that the pub is the home of traditional music has been manufactured over the last sixty years, before that it wasn’t really part of it – it would have been in the community, the home, at parties and the like, and it would have involved music, singing, dancing, storytelling and all that under one roof. It’s been turned into something commercial to bring people into pubs and sell drink, turning it into background music. It’s rare to find a musician who really enjoys playing in that setting…. and I can tell you it isn’t an easy way of making a living. Putting the music into the church gives people an opportunity to experience it in a better way.

BC: Would you say you were artistic in a wider sense than just the music?

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 28 CB: Well, I think visually, even when I’m playing music, I don’t see the notes, it’s a vision – and I like aesthetically pleasing things, whether they be concertinas or other things!!

BC: You made a comment the other day about maybe wanting to make something that would have a more physical legacy, compared to music?

CB: Well, unless you record the music or capture it in some way, you lose it…. I could be playing for hours and hours by myself in practice and when I’m finished it’s gone – it may benefit my playing in the future, but for then it’s disappeared. I guess what I was trying to say was that if I was a jeweller, an artist, a sculptor there is something left that stays and is lasting. Maybe as you age, your style changes – in 10 – 15 years I don’t think I could maintain the same musical energy and intensity – and if my memory fails me it’s gone. I’m not lamenting it, it’s a fact of life, I suppose I was just trying to contrast the different types of art….

BC: And you are still working in psychology?

CB: Yes, working, researching and publishing. I completed my PhD in Psychology at NUI, Galway – I was really interested in investigating the relationships between masculine enforced expectations and variables such as self-esteem, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation, particularly in teenage males. I’m doing a one person show next year in the National Concert Hall in Dublin, combining the research I published and illustrating it with traditional music which will be a challenge!

BC: Is there a living to be made as a professional traditional musician?

CB: There are very few people who make a living at it, it’s certainly not an easy way to go. I’ve been lucky up until now, I suppose, but I just take it month by month really. I just have ideas and see if they are enjoyable – I did the whole music thing exclusively for a couple of years but just didn’t find it fulfilling – then I changed to the psychology thing exclusively and found that the same – it wasn’t until I started getting into the Masters work and doing lots of other things that I started to enjoy it more. I did the going up onto the mountain thing, like a monk, to try and find yourself, but it didn’t

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 29 work for me, I had to be doing something and what I’m doing now feels good!

BC: Thanks Cormac – I’ll let you go and get a few hours sleep before this evening’s sessions!

Clips of Cormac and Rushad’s playing can be seen on YouTube – just search for “Cormac and Rushad” on Youtube <>

Hawkwood Concertina Band weekend January 2018 Jenny Cox

January 2000 saw the first residential concertina band weekend at Hawkwood College U.K. It followed Dave Townsend’s 4 summer Concertina Bands at Witney 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999. I am proud to announce that our 20th annual Hawkwood Concertina Band is now booking .. . In fact it is nearly full. Steve Ellis and Dave Townsend will conduct and lead. Music is organised and ready to be made available after Christmas. The menu includes a Tango, a March, a , a piece from the opera Hansel and Gretel, and a Victorian composition about Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Liz Ellison is doing all the admin work and I am responsible for the music, and the “something different” on Saturday night. <>

Jenny Cox who started all this proudly holding a book written by her son and surrounded by lots of concertinas and maps full of band music.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 30 Jenny’s preparations and group playing in Bristol

Peter Cox, bottom right who is Jenny’s husband and supporter

If you have nice photos of your group and would like to share them; please mail the editor. PS

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 31 For your agenda: ICA AGM DAY 11TH MAY 2019 hosted by Kettle Bridge Concertinas

10 am – 1 pm Workshop by Iris Bishop (break for coffee at 11.30)

1-2.30 pm Lunch – bring your own or go and find

2.30 – 4.30 AGM

4.30 Tea

5.30 Dinner at the Wateringbury for all those who want to participate

7.30 Informal concert - Iris Bishop Paul McCann Kettle Bridge

Finish up at the Wateringbury for drinks

The workshop by Iris Bishop, AGM and concert will take place at Wateringbury Village Hall 147 Tonbridge Road, Wateringbury Kent, ME18 5NL

There is a Premier Inn just a short walk from the hall, and we have booked tables for dinner at the Wateringbury pub, which is attached to the Premier Inn. Wateringbury train station is within walking distance of the venue.

The Premier Inn 103 Tonbridge Rd, Maidstone ME18 5NS

I hope that some others will play for us in the evening too!

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 32 Jean Margery Perree 3rd February 1924 to 23rd July 2018 Martin Henshaw

I really only got to know Jean Perree after she moved to Middle Barton in Oxfordshire. I had of course seen her at West Country Concertina Player weekends navigating her way from one workshop to another but we seemed to choose different workshops so contact at first was limited. When I drove to Kilve I went across the Cotswolds to the M5 so it only took a small change of route to go via Middle Barton and collect her and her concertina. We had a two hour journey together and talked of many things including music and rock climbing and mountaineering. She came across as being very knowledgeable on all sorts of subjects and someone who was very adventurous and had a very independent spirit ready to have a go at anything. The subject of mountaineering though took me quite by surprise as when Jean first started climbing girls were generally not seen out on the hills. Later when she moved to Sheffield it took only a short diversion off the M1 to collect her at a McDonalds to go to the Swaledale Squeeze weekends.

Jean Margery Bainton was born the middle of three daughters to Gertrude née Siebert and Percy Bainton. Her education started at the local Sefton Park School and after winning a scholarship she attended Redmaids School in Bristol as a boarder. Redmaids must have meant a great deal to her as she went to “Old Girls” reunions right up to the final year of her life.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 33 After Redmaids she won a Carnegie Scholarship to Edinburgh University to study Social Work. It was whilst at the University that she joined the Mountaineering Club and was one of its first female members. She notably made, along with others, the first winter ascent of the Steall waterfall climb, no mean feat even by today’s standards. In 1947 she clandestinely went to the Isle of Rhum (then privately owned with no public access). The group were ferried over to the island by a local fisherman. She was the only girl amongst seven men, one of whom she became engaged to but never married. She stayed on for a further year at the university to train as a youth leader before returning to Bristol to work for the YWCA.

In 1949 she met and married Frank Perree a divorcee with five children. Together they had three children Margery, Jeanette and Tim but the marriage did not last. She brought up her children single handedly whilst still working and furthering her education. She gained a Certificate of Education at Bristol University and finally became deputy head mistress at a large comprehensive school.

Jean was a talented artist, craftswomen, and cook. She played cricket, swam, was a keen cyclist and went to the gym into her 80s.

Her early love of folk music acquired at Redmaids and Edinburgh University led her to learn to play the English concertina at the age of 60. She became a musician for the Sidmouth Steppers Clog Morris and joined the West Country Concertina Players going to many of the weekend events at Kilve. She joined the ICA in 1989.

Jean was a keen youth hosteller, became a life member, and was the 10th person to join. She later helped to establish the Over 50s YHA group.

Jean loved driving and became an observer for the Advanced Institute of Motorists. She drove nearly all her life even taking her very young children all the way to Scotland from her Somerset home for holidays and on arrival found somewhere to pitch her tent.

Jean had a very full and active life much of it helping other people. She was loved by many and will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege to know her.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 34 The funeral was held at the Grenoside Crematorium near Sheffield. The Civil Celebrant read out Jean’s life story and tributes were made by her three children. Two of her grandchildren each read a poem. After the funeral refreshments were on hand at the Norfolk Arms – a lovely pub overlooking the Derbyshire moors. Amongst the various displays depicting Jean’s life and hobby interests was her concertina. I had the privilege of playing it to accompany her friend on melodeon playing Da Slockit Light, a tune composed by Tom Anderson, a Shetland fiddler. <>

ICA Subscription Renewals are due 1st January 2019

On the back of this page is a Membership Form, and Standing Order Form for UK residents.

Subscription rates are: Individual UK £20.00 Europe £23.00 Rest of World £26.00 Family: UK £30.00 Europe £34.00 Rest of World £39.00 Junior: UK £4.50 Europe £6.00 Rest of World £9.00

All members paying by Standing Order, BACS or by other electronic means (but not PayPal) should notify the Membership Secretary by email (subject "ICA Membership 2019" or by letter, stating – Member's name, membership number, amount paid in English Pounds, and quoting the payment reference.

Any members who have changed their postal or email address in the last 12 months should inform the Membership Secretary by email or by completing and posting the Membership Form to be found on the back page of this issue of Concertina World or in downloadable form on the ICA website under ICA Membership.

Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 35 Concertina World 476 editor: Pauline de Snoo © 10-12-2018 36 Paul McCann Duet workshop at Quantock Lodge

Dave Elliot’s concertina clinic at Quantock Lodge

Witney November 2018: from L to R, Chris Algar, Richard Harrison, Geoff Crab, Mike Acott (pinched from facebook PS) 7th Annual Concertina Cruinniú 15 - 17 February 2019 www.concertinacruinniu.ie

8 - 10 March 2019 West Country Concertina Players see inside back cover http://thewccp.org

ICA AGM DAY 11 MAY 2019 hosted by Kettle Bridge Concertinas see inside page 32

The Twentieth Annual SCANDINAVIAN SQUEEZE-IN 26-28 April 2019 Monday, April 1, 2019 deadline for booking

http://www.nonce.dk/SSI/

Concertina weekend

Swaledale Squeeze 17-19 May 2019 http://swaledalesqueeze.org.uk/

for more events and list of teachers : www.concertina.org